The report section of QuickBooks Online (QBO) continues to become more robust for those looking to create customizable reports. Reviewing all the functions would take far more than one, or even several blog posts.
Today though, we will examine a few options. It should be enough to get you started on finding the opportunities in report customization that will be helpful to you.
We’ll pay special attention to the newer functions.
This toolbar across the very top of the report holds a number of formatting options. By locating these options here, QBO allows for quick and easy access.
The Collapse command collapses all subaccounts into their parent account.
Let’s say the parent account Insurance Expense has three subaccounts, Liability, Auto, and Health. Collapsed, the Profit and Loss report will show only one line with one total for the parent account.
Once that selection is made, the command changes to the word Expand, which would immediately expand the report to show all subaccounts.
Sort allows you to leave accounts on the report sorted as they normally do. Or, you can have them sort from largest amount to the smallest amount within account type. Another setting is to sort the opposite direction, from smallest to largest.
The “Add notes” function can be very useful. With it, you are able to add custom notes right on the report itself.
Using the Edit Header option, it’s possible to change the report title, date description, Company name, or choose to display the company’s logo.
The four symbols on the right side of the tool section serve several important functions. The envelope symbol allows emailing the report to the addresses of your choice right from this window. The printer icon of course, prints the report to paper.
The next icon allows the report to be exported to Excel for further work, or to be turned into a PDF document.
The gear icon holds a setting that controls the line spacing in the report. Clicking on it displays a checkbox allowing you to specify the report to be in “Compact” mode. This places the lines closer together.
All the graphics shown in this article are of a report with the Compact setting unchecked.
If you do a lot of work customizing a report, be sure to use the Save Customization button to save your work. That way, you won’t have to re-create the report from scratch each time you want to run it.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
7791 NW 46th St. Suite 109
Doral, FL 33166
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
